


Them Among Us: Monster Mingle

by Congar



Series: Dust-Eaters AU [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 19:34:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18430661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Congar/pseuds/Congar
Summary: This part of the Dust-Eaters AU is primarily written by Congar.





	Them Among Us: Monster Mingle

**Author's Note:**

> This part of the Dust-Eaters AU is primarily written by Congar.

“Wow!”

My jaw hits the floor as I turn the corner of this already luxurious part of the city, only to be met by one of the most extravagant buildings I’ve ever seen in my entire life. A castle! A literal castle! Everyone’s told me that those exists here, but I thought they were just exaggerating.

Fluffbun!

Must’ve been a leftover from when the monster royalty faded away from public view until even their property became available for the common monster. Granted, the very rich common monsters. That it’s being owned by a human is something I can’t wrap my head around, though. Has to be from trading dust, there is no other explanation.

The outside marble walls are just as white as dust, so perhaps I’m closer than I know.

Closer than I want to know...

“Told you it was large!” my friend gleefully spouts as he elbows me with two of his insect arms. “Place is huge! The party is gonna be off the damn hook! One sip of the drink served in there will be equal to your family’s house!” His one eye is opened wide as can be, almost resembling a plate with a sunny side up egg on it. He tugs at my wing in an attempt to bring my mind back down to the ground. “Come on, we might be late!!”

I stumble forward by his eager tug. “You finally gonna tell me how you got invited here, Juyki?” I ask as I wring my feathers out of his eager grasp.

His long orange ears flop down, smacking audibly against his furry cheeks. He waits for me to catch up on my four legs and keep up his pace before he begins. “I saved someone who was caught in a bad situation with their dust. In the rain, of course. My guess is that she had a long day at work since it was almost night when we bumped into each other.”

Holding your disguise against the rain is almost as draining on your reserves as using actual magic. Whoever she is, she’s lucky that Juyki bumped into her. Hunters could’ve just been around the corner.

“I was on my way home from picking up some dust for myself when I spotted the tail of a monster looking suspiciously transparent. She was talking with a couple of priests.”

“Oh shit!” my mouth voices in reflex. “Priests? Close one.”

Juyki nods in agreement. “Yeah, if any of them had looked down she’d been screwed. So, I sauntered up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. I told her that she had dropped her wallet, and when she turned around to pat herself she noticed her fading tail. I’ve never seen someone go so pale so quickly. From that Chat guy to a skeleton in the blink of my eye.”

I can only nod along. Having your dust run out in public is stuff of nightmares, but doing so while in the company of priests? My feathers shake like aspen leafs in the wind just thinking about it. Reminds me of the close encounters I’ve had before. Juyki notices my conflicted exhale, and waits for me to compose myself a bit before continuing.

“I quickly flashed my bag of dust, and she excused herself from her company so that she could reward me for finding her wallet. Offered me tea and everything to hold up the charade. The priests told her they’d meet her later then, and bowed to my kindness.”

“Not in the way they thought, though?”

He shrugs, “Semantics, really,” and rolls his wrists. “Anyways, she told me that I saved her life after I gave her some dust.”

“You gave-”

“Shh,” Juyki hushes while he lightly punches the button for the crosswalk over to the street where the castle stands tall like a pointy mountain, “let me finish. Of course she knew how expensive it was, which is why we’re here.” Once the bird that allows you to cross a disappointingly small crosswalk turns green he snaps three fingers into guns aimed squarely at the mansion. “There’s gonna be some very powerful humans here at this party. Besides us, of course,” he finishes with his green tongue playfully outstretched.

I smirk, and he mirrors it.

“So this will also be a chance for us to perhaps get a foot in somewhere, you know? Get your acting out to some influential people. How long has it been now since the last gig?”

“Almost a year,” I sigh out while rubbing my arm, my feathers bouncing back up like swaying grass as I drag my talons over them. “Don’t think I can wait a lot longer. I’m running out of money.”

“Good thing you’re getting a golden chance here then!”

I nod, despite not meaning it. “I guess.”

We’ve now reached the gate forged from old, blackened steel adorned with marble sculptures of monsters of various forms and sizes that I’ve read about back in high school. Not a jolly bunch, to be perfectly honest, but I suppose having a sculptured made in your image is a big deal.

Not that I’d know.

Perhaps I should make a slime disguise instead and stand model for sculptures?

A porcupine monster clad in a suit with many holes walks down the long gravel path to greet us. Must be a masqueraded human judging by how it talked to one without a disguise inside the mansion before closing the door.

“What kind of party is this, anyway?” I whisper to Juyki. “Like, a ball? You think we’re properly dressed? I feel a bit casual coming in just a shirt and nice pants.”

Juyki gives me a reassuring pat on my back. “The lady said that clothing isn’t important since we’ll be given some at the location, which we are at now.”

Given clothing? What?

“This still feels very strange,” I comment under my breath after a brief pause to try and take everything in again. I fail to. “Like we’re somewhere we aren’t supposed to be at.”

“I feel the same,” Juyki agrees, not showing any hint of sarcasm. “This is really, really, strange, I’m in complete agreement with you there. We’re not supposed to be here. We’re just two common humans that got lucky. You doubly so since I was allowed to bring a plus one. This is our chance though! Let’s take it, no matter how absurd the reason is that we got it.”

His friendly smile that he always falls back on, mainly because it always works, has my tense shoulders relaxing. Juyki feels that, and his smile grows wider. “We’ll do some mingling, have some fancy snacks, some expensive wine, and enjoy ourselves. It’s a party, after all.”

I chuckle. “Don’t get too drunk like usual though.”

He does too. “No promises.”

The butler clears his throat as he eyes us up without emotion. With the most minimal of movement he extends his hand towards Juyki. “Your invitation?”

Juyki hands the butler a note written in ornate penmanship and stamped with a waxed seal. I don’t recognize it, but it sure does look plenty fancy to me. Should give credence to anything, in my mind. The butler reads the note for a while through his glasses that are way too small for his face. He seems satisfied after having skimmed it through, and opens the gate while bowing to us. “Please follow me to the festivities.”

We follow a couple of steps behind him.

Juyki elbows me again to get my attention. He extends two of his thumbs eagerly while nodding just as eagerly, if not more. I feel a smile form, and I nod back while patting his back with my wing.

I’m actually getting a bit excited now. We’re actually being led inside a freaking castle! Juyki and I! Amazing!

“You can fade safely inside,” the butler informs us as we walk up the marble stairs. He puts his hand on the decorated handle, and motions for us to enter.

My jaw again slams against the floor as I take in the enormous hall I’ve entered. This has to have been an old castle for the monster royalty! There’s even a pair of thrones at the upstairs balcony clad in purple! Just the floor alone is more expensive looking than any of the huge mansions neighboring, and on top of that it has four walls covered in expensive paintings, and a roof with the biggest chandelier I’ve ever seen to boot! How rich can one person be? One human, even?

...How many tons of dust? Is there even that much available inside all the living monsters around?

And so many humans are here. They all look so...peaceful. It’s nothing like the slums, despite the fancy suits numbering higher than even the most cramped of streets. They all talk so quietly, so friendly, so restful. Like it’s second nature to be in public without the Masquerade.

I almost feel faint from it all.

The butler offers us his pardons as he squeezes past us to take stage for our introduction. “Lady Piltro’s guests have arrived!” he informs the hall with an arm angled towards us.

Lady Piltro!? The High Priestess? That’s... I snap my head over to Juyki, him now having faded to his human form. His cocky smile is the same though, and he winks at me. “Told you there were powerful humans here.”

My conflicted expression grows more potent as I let my avian monster form fade as well. My mouth being better at showing my confusion better than my beak. I become aware of my wrinkled forehead, but it’s not holding a candle to me now knowing that Lady Piltro is a human!

How many of these humans are monsters that I’ve read about? In my books? In the newspapers? My head is spinning, and I feel the need to sit down.

“My child, how are you feeling?”

That voice!

Impossible!

I snap my head violently towards her voice, and almost flinch out of my chair as I see her face softly smiling at me less than an arm’s length away.

Toriel! My old headmaster! What is she doing here? Is she dead? What’s-

A hand is placed on my shoulder and I instinctively look up. The face that greets me is old and weathered, with a gray beard giving way to an amused smile. “A lot to take in?” his calm voice asks. I can’t produce an answer, and he gestures silently for Toriel to leave the two of us alone for a moment.

“Was that Toriel?” Juyki asks, stunned like I am, yet still able to stand up. I’ve never seen him at such a loss for words before.

The old man points across the hall, and Juyki and I look over. We both almost jump out of our exposed skins as we spot not one, but ten Toriels, all walking calmly around the guests offering drinks dressed in similar suits as the porcupine butler wore.

“It’s not her, it’s just her dust,” the old man begins to explain. “She’s not dead though. Her physician had to take a few more tests than normal to rule out...something. I don’t usually ask for details since it’s quite seldom that I receive any.” He waits until we both look up at him confused before winking with one eye. “Judging by your age and...clothing, this is your first time here?” His curiosity quickly mask his rather condescending tone.

Juyki and I nod quietly.

“So you must be the ones Piltro was talking about.” The old man lets out an amused chuckle. “She’s so stingy with her dust, I can’t begin to fathom how she’d forget. I guess some trouble down at the dust storage, but that’s not important now though.” He moves his finger towards the middle of the adjacent marble wall. “You see those plates stacked high with pastry? Those are your choices for today, cinnamon, or butterscotch. Those are all the way from Syrrup. From the Spider Parlor, and nothing less. Be careful with the glazing though,” the man warns with a stifled laugh.

A cold wave starts running up my spine, yet I feel myself getting intrigued. What is this party?

“It is made with dust.”

Dust?

“Pure dust.”

Pure!?

“Judging by your reaction this is the first time you’ve been near some.”

We both nod again.

“Pure dust, as you know, imparts you not only with a specific monster’s image, but also their memories. Once you’ve made your choice you will change into that monster, and so will the rest of us into other ones.”

“For what reason?” Juyki asks, his voice trembling with uncertainty.

“To mingle, of course,” the old man answers with such glee that he almost splits his cheeks in twine. “Every month we come together to mingle, not as ourselves, but as others. It’s a masquerade, but not for our survival. We come as we are, we mingle as someone else, and we leave as we are, but with newfound insight. One time I was locked in a fierce debate over Nice Cream flavors as a small avian child against another white dog twice my size.”

What the hell is this party?

“Today’s theme is ‘Relations’, and I’m very eager to see how that has influenced the choice of dust used.” The old man releases my shoulder as he’s waved over by the butler. “I look forward to mingling with you two in a bit.” He walks over, and whispers something to the butler, who saunters up into the middle of the room.

He claps twice, loudly. “The time has come to begin.” The Toriels all move to fetch a plate of cinnamon pastries, and one with butterscotch. “Please, enjoy your mingle!”

The hall starts buzzing with excitement and clapping, with humans discussing what flavor to pick with the same unrestrained glee as the old man had.

It’s not long before a Toriel approaches my friend and I with the same motherly steps and smile I always saw her have when I was attending her school. My feelings are so conflicted that I don’t even know which one to feel. She stretches out the plates for Juyki and me. “Cinammon or butterscoth, my dearest children?”

The way she said that... It's her voice, but it's not her words. That slur. Who is this person wearing Toriel's face?

Juyki and I trade glances.

There’s fear in mine.

But there’s adventure in his.

“What’s the difference?” Juyki wonders aloud.

Toriel nods. “Certainly. The butterscotch is for mingle only, whereas the cinnamon is for mingle mixed with battle. It’s more potent to allow the use of the donor monster’s bullet pattern. It will be held in the other hall as to not disturb the cinnamon mingle, but you are of course free to move from one room to another.”

Juyki looks over to me. “Which one do you want?”

“I don’t know,” I answer. My mind’s too occupied with what slice Toriel had to become...Toriel.

“I’m thinking butterscotch.” Juyki reaches over and grabs a slice of cinnamon pie which he rests on his bouncing hand.

Toriel moves the plates over my way.

“You sure?” I ask Juyki while I glance down at his filled hand. “Sounds dangerous.”

“I saw Lady Piltro choose butterscotch, and I’ve been thinking to ask her for an apprenticeship,” he explains while accepting a spoon from Toriel. “You can do cinnamon if you want, you don’t have to do combat if you don’t want to.”

I don’t. I really don’t. I’m already hesitant towards choosing even cinnamon. The plate is an inch away from my face though, handed over to me by my old headmaster. No, one of my old headmasters. I swipe a cinnamon roll just to get her out of my sight.

“I’ll come out and let you know how it goes halfways. Should be fun trying to figure out who you are. Actually, I hope I don’t recognize you. That way all the other will see how good an actor you are!” Juyki holds out his slice towards me. “Cheers.”

I tap my slice against his. “Cheers.”

It even tastes like Toriel’s cooking…

Juyki holds out his hand to help me stand up. I take it, and he drags me up on my feet. “See you afterwards. Don’t forget to mingle.”

A warm feeling surges from within, and I feel magic starting to envelop me. I nod. “See you later, Juyki.”

He leaves me as he hurries towards the door leading in to the other hall. I’m led by Toriel towards the other side of the room where a group of humans are standing. Each second looking at her back makes me feel unwell. “Which slice did you have?” I ask her.

She turns her head faster than I’ve ever seen her do. Her longs ears slam against her neck and other cheek, and her brow sinks into a dark shadow. “I...” she begins, but never finishes. With a quick walk she leaves me with the other humans.

Other...humans?

No…

They’re...not...humans?

Humans?

What are humans?

My head… It’s feeling hazy.

I sit down with my hands pressed against my head as flashes of open fields of wheat run past my closed eyes. Memories of me frolicking in my favorite dress, and of my brother and I bathing in the lake next to our farm during our summers away from school.

My scaly hands push against my blue temples.

My decision to move here to the city. I know I made it, and I know that it was a hard decision for me to make, but for what reason did I do it again? I live alone here, working as a bar maiden at a tavern close to the edge of the city. The rolling rapeseed fields reminds me of home, and the gentle breeze from the ocean helps me as well as I’ve found it difficult to adapt lately. I just need...

I...My name…I am…

“Excuse me?”

I remove my hands while blinking. My eyes feel dry and irritated.

“Here.”

I’m offered a napkin, and I dry my eyes off before handing the napkin back. The hall I am in is big, the biggest I’ve ever seen. I don’t feel strange to it though, almost as if I’m supposed to be here. An orange, furry face leans into my view. “May I ask your name?”

“Oh!” How rude of me. Did I leave my manners back at the farm? Focus! Come on, girl! “My name is Frevn.”

The bright fur flows like the wheat fields in the wind as the monster opposite the table I’m sitting at nods. “I see, a very beautiful name. Fitting a monster such as you.”

I take his outstretched hand. I’m not sure exactly what he means by that, but I feel oddly curious to know. “And what do you mean by that...um?”

“Ritlam,” the sharply dressed monster answer with a row of cordially exposed teeth. “I am Ritlam, and I would like to propose us two walking across this here hall and enjoy ourselves some sparkling.”

Is that so? I expend all of my energy not to let him know that I know what he is up to. Still, I smile. “That sounds lovely, Ritlam.” Because it really does. “Lead the way.” A first for me, this city party. My mom told me people here were all too busy with their own self-important business, and in many ways they are, but this fox seems to be making his business mine too.

And I kinda like that.

I can tell that he’s holding back the fireworks whistling inside his own head too, so we’re very much on the same page.

After fetching us a glass each, Ritlam helps me up on my feet. He takes a keen interest to my dress, especially the braiding on its fringe. “Tell me,” he asks after a quick sip of his sparkling wine. “You wouldn’t be from the countryside, would you?”

I spin the glass around between my fingers. “Just like you?”

He freezes, my words seems to have stricken a nerve. His shoulders sink, and he looks to the side while sighing. “Is it that obvious?”

I take a celebratory sip. “It is. You haven’t quite managed to get those influxes out of your speech yet.”

He scoffs. “Then I need to get my money back from my tutor. Five lessons, or less, that is what I was promised.”

“Which lesson are you on now?” I pry inquisitively, taking his frozen hand in mine to warm it up.

“Ten.”

I accidentally let out a chortle into my glass. Before I can apologize, Ratlim puts up his hand. “You’re allowed to laugh,” he reassures with a chortle of his own. “I am used to it.” He begins leading me away from the group of monsters mingling behind him.

“Why hide it?” I retort while resting my eyes on a nearby painting.

Ratlim notices my noticing, and walks us both over to the rendition of an old skeleton smiling with green and red colors in his eye sockets. “My occupation is more suited towards more city-like articulation.”

“And what would that be, city boy?”

And before I knew it, I’d fallen into his trap. Whether or not he set it willingly or not is not important, and neither is me falling into it. I find myself enjoying his company as we move from painting to painting mostly without thinking. The meticulously focused strokes just being blurs to us as we talk. His stories about his youth mirror my own upbringing, although he had to travel for an hour or so to reach the nearest lake for him. There aren’t a lot of us country folk in this city, so finding another one just like this is like thunder from a clear sky.

It comes to a point where I even catch myself crossing my legs underneath the table as we sit down again having walked all four walls together. His stories, my stories, we build off each other’s. Our conversation flows like the early spring rivers, with each piece of ice breaking off to fuel it into something so gripping that I feel my soul fluster with each sentence we speak together.

I can tell that he’s feeling the same, as his hands slowly rubs my own as it lays flat on the table. I allow him. In fact, I don’t want him to let go for the rest of the day.

Or tomorrow.

Yet despite it all, despite me feeling like I’m floating the clouds that I pointed out those summers long ago, I still feel hesitant. I don’t know why. Perhaps he hasn’t asked the right question yet.

“So, why did you decide to move to this city?”

There it is again. This haze in my mind. I try and shake it off so that I can see what’s behind, but I can’t. It feels so bizarre as well, like I’m both trying to find it and also trying to hide it at the same time.

“I don’t-”

“Frevn!”

No…

Oh no…

Oh please no!

“Frevn?” a more worried voice asks me. Ratlim’s voice.

Not his voice.

Not his…

No!

I collapse in tears.

Why?

Why him?

Ritlam hurries around the table. “What is it, Frevn?”

I can’t look at him. My eyes are too mortified to see the reason I left standing in that door.

“He’s here,” I whisper through a pained choke.

“Who?” Ritlam turns my cheek gingerly up to him. “Who is it?”

“My father.”

Ritlam turns around, but before he can properly react, he’s tossed aside. “Don’t you ever lay a hand on my daughter without my permission!” his aggressor demands.

My aggressor.

I crawl away, but my father jerks me back by my collar. He spins me around, his hands almost crushing my arms as he holds me tightly. “I have looked across heaven and hell to find you, Frevn! You’re coming back home!”

“No!” I scream back in protest. “I do-”

My neck almost snaps as my father’s open hand connect with my cheek. His claws slash my scales open with fury. The pain, as well as the memory of all the previous pain, floods into me, and I can do nothing but cry. The tears I thought were long gone come back to me, in what feels like a never ending supply.

My dust spills out of the wound on my cheek, and I put my hand up to it.

W-what’s this?

It’s red.

It’s liquid.

Is this from me?

“Get off her!”

I fall forwards as my father’s hand slip off my arm. I can barely see through my tears and my hair before my eyes, but what I hear paints the picture far more than I could ever witness.

Thud after thud after thud. Each more powerful than before. Ritlam’s voice grows increasingly angry which each punch he throws down on my father’s body. The two quaking with each heavy connect.

I cry again, but this time from joy. He’s gone, he can no longe-

My mind snaps awake, and I fly up on my legs. I look down on my monster form, but it’s not my own!

“The mingle has concluded!” informs the butler loudly from the middle of the room. His voice is followed by a series of applause. All around me, monsters turn into humans, and the clapping becomes louder as talon and paw give way to hands and skin.

I look down to see my own human hands shaking. What just happened?

“Inform the physician.”

I turn to the voice, seeing the old man squatting over a still body. Blood is pooling around the beaten skull, and behind it is a human drying her shaking knuckles. She’s flanked on both sides by people congratulating her, asking her how she feels, and her giggling from all the attention.

Where’s Juyki? We need to get out of here! This place is insane! Where is he!

The old man approaches me. “Could I have a word with you?”

“Where’s Juy-”

“The physician is tending to him now.”

The old man quickly whisks me away from the crowd into a corner of the hall. He places his body between me and the mumbling crowd, but I can’t even move away a shower curtain with how weak I feel at the moment.

“Where’s Juyki?” I ask again, my lips trembling like an earthquake.

“As I said, the physician is tending to him now,” the old man explains with a steadying hand on my shoulder. “Your friend might’ve overdosed on the purity. That’s not what I took you aside to talk to you about though.”

“Is he-”

“He’s alive,” the old man cuts me off. “He’ll live. Again, that’s not what I took you aside for.”

“T-then, w-what is it?”

“Do you have a background in theater?”

Despite almost vomiting, I feel inclined to answer his question. “Y-yes, I’ve done some acting before.”

The old man nods as he thinks. “You are pretty good,” he offers with a smile. “You respond well to the purity. From what I overheard, you brought such life to Frevn. The woman that was Ratlim is a very famous actress, and you matching her gate is indeed impressive. I’m willing to offer you a place here, but not as a guest.”

The old man beckons for a Toriel to come closer. She obliges with a gingerly bow. “I want you to be a waiter at the next mingle, just like he is.”

“...He?”

“Yes, you too will be donning Toriel’s likeness, or any other monster that’s chosen to act as service at the next occasion.” The old man waves away Toriel, who obliges with a gingerly bow. “You will be compensated well, but I will in return ask you to study the monster you’ve been assigned. Show me how well you can adopt the monster you’ve assigned as, and I’ll allow you to perform at the ‘what-if’s that humans pay top money for to act out scenarios between famous monsters. You have talent, both me and Ratlim can vouch for that, so it’s up to you to display it.”

“I s-see.”

The old man’s shadow lies heavy upon me as he leans closer. “I also arrange...different parties. I will not force you to join those as most of my clients for those want the auras feeling as natural as possible. However, the compensation for those are immense, and that’s coming from me. Equivalent to the ‘what-if’s.”

My throat can barely contain the swallow I make. “T-t-t-that’s...”

“A lot to ask of, yes. However, should you say no, you will have no recollection of this ever happening. You still have the pure dust swimming inside of you and you don’t know how to dispose of it properly.” The old man looks over his shoulder. “Your friend will wake up without any knowledge of this, that’s a certain. I’m offering you the chance of your life, and I implore you to take it.”

He extends his hand.

“You’ve spent your life thinking this is a curse, and what I’m offering you is a way for you to look at it as something else, something to derive pleasure from. That is how it all started, and I invite you to join me in that view.”

I look down at his hand. It’s weathered, just like his face. It also sports no sign of lying, just like his face. For as much as I can’t stop thinking about Juyki, for as much as I fear for him right now, I can’t silence the voice that’s screaming for me to take this man’s hand. It reminds me of how good I felt when talking about my life as Frevn. How much I enjoyed talking to Ratlim.

How close I was to falling in love with him.

Do I want that again? Even after what happened to Juyki?

“Would Frevn want it?” I hear the old man ask.

I can still feel her lingering. Her feelings, memories.

“Do it,” I hear her say in my head.

I nod, “Yes,” and take the old man’s hand. “For you, Frevn.”

The old man’s demeanor explodes into a wide and comforting embrace. “Wonderful!” As he leads me up the red carpet laying on the marble stairs he leans carefully into me. “So, how much do you know about Undyne, the Hunter?”


End file.
